13

Kojuro let out a breath of frustration after he had just killed the Arrancar. He had expected a better fight from a being that could kill off two lieutenants and the members that they brought with them.

'This guy was probably a Gillian that accidentally tore its mask. This could not be an Adjuchas if he could not even force me to use the full extent of my shikai.'

Kojuro turned around and was bout to tell Ren that they could return to the pickup location before he saw the look in Ren's eyes. Ren's face looked calm as if he did not mind the battle that occurred or was not surprised by the battle, but his eyes said that the battle had excited.

Kojuro could see that Ren was measuring himself against either Kojuro or the Arrancar in his mind. Trying to see how well he would fare or how easily he would beat either of the two.

'This kid sure has balls. That is the look of someone that thinks they can win. And he is not staring at the ashes by my feet. This little bastard is staring at me.'

Kojuro let out a laugh which broke Ren out of his thoughts. He could tell by the look on Kojuro's face that he had been caught. Ren let out a small laugh and was about to make an excuse but before he could say anything, Kojuro beat him to it.

"Don't even try to deny. You think you can take me. I will gladly prove that you can't.

Since it is just us and we need to survive after the battle, we will limit ourselves to our shikai. The time limit will be 30 minutes. What do you say, 12th seat?"

Ren knew that he had been caught. He also wanted to see if his guesses were correct about how well he would fare against Kojuro and learn more about his zanpakuto.

Besides the main ones in the series, Ren had not seen any other ones so he was curious about the limits of a true zanpakuto without nerfs or powerups due to the power of friendship. Ren unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Kojuro to give his answer.

"Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! Khorne!"

Red reiatsu surrounded Ren in a cyclone before coming to a stop. When the reiatsu disappeared, Ren stood there with his sword and sheath no longer present. Instead, he wore red, fingerless gloves on each of his hands. Each of the knuckles had a small, black spike on it.

"Pick a number, Taichō. 1-4."

Kojuro did not understand why he had to pick a number but decided to go along with it.

"Hmm. Must have to do with your zanpakuto ability. Do you need your opponent to actually pick a number to use it?"

"Nope. Just giving you a chance to pick. I could also choose on my own."

Kojuro nodded. If it was the former, he would be severely disadvantaged against other opponents.

"Hmm. I choose 1 since I am the number one, then."

A creepy smile appeared on Ren's face. Kojuro chose the number that was the worst matchup against him. The palm of the right glove began to glow as a rune lit up on it.

"Fine then. Gift Of Arms!"

4 ethereal weapons appeared behind Ren. They were a black and red long sword with a few long jagged spikes coming out from various parts of it, a spear with silvertip a few smaller blades behind it, a great sword that looked pure white, and a great ax that dwarfed Ren that was made of blood, brass, and bones.

Ren's shikai had 4 different abilities that each did something very different. They were each called gifts. These were based on the 4 Gifts Of Khorne. The original Khorne would bestow these on his believers who had done excellent work for him or killed many of his enemies.

The first gift was the Gift Of Arms. The version that Ren's zanpakuto carried allowed Ren to use 4 different weapons that were wielded by champions that had served Khorne with each weapon having a unique ability.

Ren held the black and red sword in his right hand while he held the spear in his.

"Aghhh!!!" he yelled while charging toward Kojuro with his sword. Kojuro let out a shout of his own as he charged toward Ren.

The initial clash between the two was just like it was between Kojuro and the Arrancar. Both sides clashed with neither gaining an advantage. But Ren was smarter than the Arrancar.

While the sword had been knocked away, Ren attacked with the spear. Kojuro hastily blocked with his guandao. He knew that while he would be pushed away since would not be blocking properly, he would still not be injured by Ren.

But the force of the blow did not come. Instead, Kojuro saw the spear pass right through his guandao's body and neared Kojuro's chest. Kojuro tried to retreat rapidly using shunpo but he was still wounded by the spear stabbing into his body deeply.

When he landed nearly a hundred meters away, Kojuro looked down at the wound on his chest. While it was not something that would slow him down, most shinigami would be at half their fighting strength. He looked at Ren with eyes that asked, 'What the hell was that?'

"This spear is called Slaupnir. It can pierce any defense. It does not simply cut through defenses but avoids them all together by becoming a phantom-like weapon."

Ren decided to give Kojuro a short explanation without going into full details and telling the weakness of the spear. The weakness was that it could only phase through things that the blade of the spear had touched. If anyone wanted to parry it, they would need to stop the shaft.

Kojuro did not ask anything else. He knew that it would foolish for Ren to explain the weakness of his technique and had only told him since he saw Kojuro use one of his abilities against the Arrancar.

"Don't think this little injury can stop me. Round 2, 12th seat!"

"Bring it, Taichō!"